ikenbot:

Antimatter and Fusion Drives Could Power Future Spaceships

Nuclear fusion reactions sparked by beams of antimatter could be propelling ultra-fast spaceships on long journeys before the end of the century, researchers say.

Image: Comparison of Daedalus spacecraft and Saturn V rocket.

A fusion-powered spacecraft could reach Jupiter within four months, potentially opening up parts of the outer solar system to manned exploration, according to a 2010 NASA report.

A number of hurdles would have to be overcome—particularly in the production and storage of antimatter—to make the technology feasible, but some experts imagine it could be ready to go in a half-century or so.

It’s “probably not a 40-year technology, but 50, 60? Quite possible, and something that would have a significant impact on exploration by changing the mass-power-finance calculus when planning,” Jason Hay, a senior aerospace technology analyst for consulting firm The Tauri Group, said during an Aug. 29 presentation with NASA’s Future In-Space Operations working group.

The power of fusion

The fuel for such a fusion-driven spaceship would likely consist of many small pellets containing deuterium and tritium—heavy isotopes of hydrogen that harbor one or two neutrons, respectively, in their nuclei. (The common hydrogen atom has no neutrons.)

Inside each pellet, this fuel would be surrounded by another material, perhaps uranium. A beam of antiprotons—the antimatter equivalent of protons, sporting a net electrical charge of minus-1 rather than plus-1—would be directed at the pellets.

When the antiprotons slammed into uranium nuclei, they would annihilate, generating high-energy fission products that ignite fusion reactions in the fuel.

Such reactions—for example, deuterium and tritium nuclei merging to create one helium-4 atom and one neutron—throw off huge amounts of energy that could be harnessed to propel a spacecraft in several different ways.

“The energy from these reactions could be used to heat a propellant or provide thrust through magnetic confinement and a magnetic nozzle,” states the 2010 report, called “Technology Frontiers: Breakthrough Capabilities for Space Exploration,” which NASA produced with the help of The Tauri Group and other experts.

The basic idea is not new: Project Daedalus, a study conducted by the British Interplanetary Society in the 1970s, proposed using a fusion rocket to power an interstellar spacecraft. Daedalus’ fusion reactions would be sparked by electron beams rather than antiproton beams, however.

Full Article

(via ikenbot)

atomstargazer:

Basics of String Theory

(via allthesmallquarks)

itscolossal:

This is what happens when you run water through a 24hz sine wave.

(via createanewworld)

astronomnomy:

Warning, turn volume down!

Woke up to the news that a meteor broke up over Russia’s Ural region. BBC says at least 250 people have been hurt by the shockwaves, broken glass and the like. After listening to the above video it’s plain to see why they’d have been hurt. I hope there’s no serious injuries.

ESA experts at ESOC have confirmed that there is NO link between this meteor and the flyby of 2012DA14.  [link] (different trajectories)

kidsneedscience:

While the expression ‘it’s Ancient Greek to me’ is used to mean something incomprehensible, the truth is that Ancient Greek is both accessible and still very much alive in Modern English. Today’s word, star, is a great example. If you were to get in a time machine and travel back to to Ancient Greece you would be able to share many words that are virtually unchanged. You could point to the night sky and say ‘a star’ which is so close to the Ancient Greek aster (αστερ) they would understand it immediately. You could perform this time travel trick over a huge exspanse of land and time with similar results: the Old English steorra, from Proto-Germanic *sterron, *sternon (and for other Proto-Germanic derivatives see also Old Saxon sterro, Old Norse stjarna, Old Frisian stera, Dutch ster, Old High German sterro, German Stern, Gothic stairno), the Proto Indo-European *ster- (see also Sanskrit tar-, Hittite shittar, Latin stella, Breton sterenn, Welsh seren). Some words play such a powerful role on the imagination and and culture that they pass down from generation to generation like valuable treasure. Today star has dozens of metaphorical and poetic uses, from Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers to soccer stars and five star restaurants. We wish upon stars, celebrities are known as stars, and we still treat the word with the highest metaphorical value: a star is distant, beautiful and inspiring.

Image courtesy NASA, in the public domain.

(via likeaphysicist)

kadrey:

Lightning porn!

One of the Nature’s beauties ;)

(Source: , via wilwheaton)

(Source: expelliarmus, via iceinherheart-kissonherlips)

(Source: secretsofabully, via createanewworld)

stealatimelord:

This is killing me. This beautiful couple and their beautiful love and their, “If you love me let me die.” I CANNOT ANYMORE.

(via doctorwho)